NY: The beginning of #ArriveDerci

Jenna Heckman

May 20, 20231 min read

In mid-April, I found myself on a plane to New York, preparing to spend a week with a total stranger.

Let's make like a classic American sitcom, and back up a few weeks.

In early March, I sat at a table in an Irish Pub in Winter Park, as a +1 to a gathering of friends. With a migraine and the stress of a thousand unfinished homework assignments, I was reserved and far from a social butterfly. Late to the party arrived Alyssa, another +1, unfamiliar with the group.

I think we spoke a total of three sentences to each other, and they went something like... what do you do for work? oh you live in New York?! That's so cool, I've been trying to make it there for a year actually but keep having to cancel my trip.

then Alyssa strung together a set of words she might regret.

'You should come visit me! My sister and I want people to come stay with us!'

A few weeks later, after some life invading curveballs, I spontaneously texted Alyssa and asked if she was serious.

Just like that, I had a flight to New York and a new lifelong best friend.

This was the beginning of ArriveDerci.